Putin's First Overseas Tour Since Ukraine Invasion... Visits Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

4 Months After Attending Beijing Winter Olympics
Countering at G7 and NATO Summits... Showing Power

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he will embark on his first overseas trip since the invasion of Ukraine. After visiting Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, former Soviet Union member states, he is expected to attend the Caspian States Summit, a consultative body among neighboring Central Asian countries, showcasing the close ties among the former Soviet states to the West.

According to Russia's TASS news agency on the 26th (local time), President Putin plans to visit Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, both former Soviet Union countries, this week. The specific itinerary has not yet been disclosed.

During this trip, President Putin will hold talks with President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, and then attend the Caspian States Summit held in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. The summit will be attended by leaders from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan. Analysts suggest that this summit is intended to be mindful of the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit and the subsequent North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

Following this, on the 30th and the 1st of next month, President Putin will visit Grodno, Belarus, to attend a forum with President Alexander Lukashenko. They are expected to discuss joint responses to Western sanctions against Russia and hold detailed talks on the ballistic missile and nuclear weapons support to Belarus, which Putin himself announced the day before.

Meanwhile, since attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, President Putin has participated in diplomatic events mainly through online video conferences for just over four months without any overseas trips. At that time, President Putin announced an unlimited friendship treaty with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.